Stars slide to ski crown

The Soldotna boys cross-country skiing team finished first Saturday at the two-day Mat-Su Pursuit meet at Hatcher Pass north of Wasilla. The Skyview girls finished second behind West Valley.

The Stars' combined winning time was 2 hours, 13 minutes, 38 seconds.

Colony finished second with a 2:17:49 time and Kenai Central was third with 2:26:35.

The Skyview girls logged a team total time of 3:01:39, following West Valley's 2:47:24. Soldotna finished third with a time of 3:02:45.

Tyson Flaharty of West Valley finished first in overall competition, clocking a combined 24:47. Soldotna's Daniel Harro placed second with an overall time of 24:58, finishing first in the 3.8-kilometer freestyle competition with a time of 11:53 and third in the classic competition in 13:05. Kenai's top finisher was Andy Banas, who finished 10th overall and in both events.

Susitna Valley's Tazlina Mannix won the girls competition with an overall time of 28:48, followed by Davya Baker of West Valley, who finished second with a combined 30:25 time.

Soldotna's Rachel Goldstein finished third overall with a combined time of 30:50. Goldstein took third in the classic race with a time of 15:43, and second in the freestyle, finishing in 15:07.